Blackpool v Oxford United Official Matchday Thread 12.12.20

Johnno said:
That was a very well rehearsed free kick, too. Watch how far and how fast the guy runs to head that ball.
I wish we had some set-pieces as well drilled as that.
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What the Hell were they playing at?
It’s not fair whipping the ball in with pace, putting our poor defenders under such pressure late in the game. Poor form that. Floaty cross please in future.
 
The recent results have bought NC the time and capacity to switch to his preferred 4-3-3 formation. I’m now wondering how many games before he drops it again?

We’ve also now got Madine & Yates out of sync with all these games coming up in quick succession. eg next match will it be Yates on his own with no partner up front?
 
clappers said:
Just an observation. Why would I have a grudge. It’s probably quite predictable that someone with no league experience would go for players he knows and can pick up to come to the club. It’s possibly not been in the best interests of BFC so far though unless Critchley has by chance just been unlucky.
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Considering the amount of players we have signed the recruitment process has been a massive success
 
Johnno said:
That was a very well rehearsed free kick, too. Watch how far and how fast the guy runs to head that ball.
I wish we had some set-pieces as well drilled as that.
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I agree and he was totally unmarked! We need to get Garbutt on the pitch to get that sort of quality delivery with either Ballard, Madine or Ekp making that sort of run.
 
Seainsea said:
I agree and he was totally unmarked! We need to get Garbutt on the pitch to get that sort of quality delivery with either Ballard, Madine or Ekp making that sort of run.
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The issue wasn't about the marking but that a big hole was left for him to run into without him being blocked off. Good ball in and a good run having said all that.
 
AndyF said:
Think this is my first post on a match thread, the naive positivity through Tangerine specs is astounding from some posters.
Some of the comments beggar belief. The top two lost today, so our point takes us closer to automatic promotion. We dropped a place in the league.
Somebody replied to a comment, that the team should go for 3pts every home game by saying we have won 5 and drawn 1 in the last 6 at home. When in fact we have W3 L2 & D1. No league points available in cup games.
Many posters are fawning over Madine & Yates, I will admit they have improved.But only one team in our division have scored less than us. 16 in 16 is not promotion stuff.
I agree the defence has been tighter of late, but there are still 8 teams above us that have let less in.
Only 7 pts off the play off spots. Alternatively, only 7 pts off the relegation spots.
Still plenty of work to be done me thinks. But plenty of time to do it.
Rant over. Hopefully we'll smash Hull.
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Really, really looking forward to your uplifting and inspiring first ever second post on this board
 
Going Up the Pool said:
I enjoyed watching the game.

But we won't get promoted with those team selection mistakes and lack of clinical finishing. I always thought this team had the talent and promise to get automatic promotion. We seem to be making it harder for ourselves.
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Calderwood must take the blame after taking all the praise for the winning run
 
BFC_53 said:
What's with the over dramatic reaction to us only drawing? Team selection was 'staggering misjudgement' -what? There have been loads of posts lauding our strength in depth, and I agree. We started Woodburn which was unexpected and not what I would've done, but is it really staggering? No. I've also seen people say on social media it was a must win. The 16th game of the season is a must win. Come on. Are we going to have such a ridiculous reaction every time we don't win? Because I hate to break it to everyone but we aren't going to win every game from now until the end of the season, so you need to brace yourselves.

We played well today. We do need some more firepower, but our defence is giving us a very solid platform to move upwards. I see there aren't nearly as many posts about Critchley's decision to choose Gabriel over Turton (who had been playing well), but maybe that's because it doesn't quite fit the Critchley narrative. It was a good decision, and he played well enough to justify the selection I thought, often available on the overlap.

Husband made me eat my words as I haven't been his biggest fan, but he had a good game. He did give away a silly foul which led to Maxwell's worldy save, but that aside he was pretty good.

As I've said, Woodburn didn't really work, and Yates was unlucky not to start. I think with Woodburn he needs more games, much like one or two others did earlier in the season. But it's not a surprise to see a little squad rotation with so many midweek games this season. This policy may actually help us later on in the season, who knows.

I think we need to give Oxford some credit too as they defended well mostly, and I think they'll finish much higher than they are. But I do think today showed we've made more progress than they have in the last 12 months. Yes I know we beat them last year but the quality of player and performance was much more in our favour this time around.

A rise up the league table is rarely linear, and we're still in a very decent place going into the Christmas period, especially having just beaten Peterborough, Portsmouth, and Fleetwood. We can't, and won't win them all.
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I don’t think you have said anything different to most.
Wizaard said:
Calderwood must take the blame after taking all the praise for the winning run
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Not from me pal. The buck starts and stops with the nanager.
 
LA1 Seasider said:
Critchley got his tactics spot on. We outplayed the ‘best’ footballing team in the division, could have scored 5/6 and didn’t give them more than a few half chances. Sometimes the ball doesn’t go in. It was just one of those games.

You can’t play the same tactics game after game or else you’ll quickly be found out and teams will know how to best you. It’s horses for courses and Critchley chose correctly. Play that game 10 x over and we win 9 of them from what I saw. Karl Robinson isn’t short of an opinion and he clearly thought we dominated them. Thats the manager of a team in excellent form and looking at the top spots as well.

The team selection worked really well and my only real complaint is the 3 changes towards the end disrupted a really promising spell and I’d have probably preferred to just see Yates brought on at that point as opposed to Virtue and Kemp too.

We’ve an important game on Tuesday night and I’d expect tactics and selections took that into account too.

To those of you complaining I’d point out Critch is the expert, as is Calderwood. They were happy with the team out there and they’ve not done too badly recently. A draw at home to Oxford is a good result.
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Signing Woodburn was a mistake and selecting him yesterday was an even bigger mistake.
 
62years&counting said:
Signing Woodburn was a mistake and selecting him yesterday was an even bigger mistake.
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Not sure either was a mistake. Critchley knows the player well and obviously thought he was worth bringing in. There was almost universal delight when we signed him - I certainly didn’t notice any complaints. There’s a risk with every transfer, loan or permanent, and unfortunately so far the Woodburn one hasn’t worked out.
Playing him on Saturday wasn’t a mistake. We could well have won that game and played very well as a team. Woodburn was part of a good team performance so I don’t see how we can call it a mistake. Playing him on Saturday could also be part of a wider tactical plan for the games coming up so calling it a mistake without the full knowledge or insight is just plain wrong.

I do acknowledge Woodburn has so far been disappointing though and on an individual basis there’s certainly players I’d start ahead of him in any position. Unfortunately it’s not Fantasy Football and you can’t just pick a strong XI and be done with it though.
 
Wizaard said:
So credits due where credits due for the run were on.
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Plenty of credit. NC and his oppo have turned a misfiring bunch of new recruits into a team that could (and should) be challenging for promotion come next May. Most of us could see the talent in the squad and aside from team selection couldn't understand why it wasn't working. They have figured that out.

From this position (and given the resources SS has put at his disposal) NC's squad has a real shot. I just hope he plays his best players, when he can.
 
LA1 Seasider said:
Not sure either was a mistake. Critchley knows the player well and obviously thought he was worth bringing in. There was almost universal delight when we signed him - I certainly didn’t notice any complaints. There’s a risk with every transfer, loan or permanent, and unfortunately so far the Woodburn one hasn’t worked out.
Playing him on Saturday wasn’t a mistake. We could well have won that game and played very well as a team. Woodburn was part of a good team performance so I don’t see how we can call it a mistake. Playing him on Saturday could also be part of a wider tactical plan for the games coming up so calling it a mistake without the full knowledge or insight is just plain wrong.

I do acknowledge Woodburn has so far been disappointing though and on an individual basis there’s certainly players I’d start ahead of him in any position. Unfortunately it’s not Fantasy Football and you can’t just pick a strong XI and be done with it though.
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I said Woodburn was a poor signing from day one. He has disappointed wherever he's been and a return of 1 goal in 28 league appearances said it all for me. In my opinion it was a mistake to sign him and his performances here back that up. Get rid in January.
 
For tomorrow you've got to leave Woodburn out, get Yates back in, and I would replace Kaikai with Garbutt. There's a potential for better service with Garbutt and we need it.

Turton or Gabriel? Probably depends on what Hull have got in that area of the pitch.

Ward/Robson/Williams/Virtue? I've been 100% Robson but he's not been the same since his suspension and Ward was good on Saturday. Other two are playing catch up at the moment I think.
 
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